April 25th, 2011
No, the other one–Donald Young. It seems he and Patrick McEnroe–who only gets by because the USTA is run like USA Dance–are having a Twitter fight. McEnroe decided that the USTA’s at-large bid to the French Open would go to the winner of a small tournament. Donald Young–who, up until about three years ago was The Future of American Tennis–believes that he should have been given the bid because, well, he was once The Future of American Tennis.
Without choosing sides in this fight, boy, Donald Young was awesome back in his prime. Movement is the most under-appreciated weapon in tennis. “Moving well” sounds so stupidly simple, but it combines a bunch of different elements: speed, acceleration, the ability to change direction, and, most importantly, the vision to put yourself in the right spot with the most economy of effort.
The great movers look like they’re gliding on glass. Young didn’t move like Richard Gasquet, but he was close.
Best mover of all time: Federer, by a mile. You can credit his 16 Slams to the forehand and the serve and the shotmaking. But his really amazing achievement–the 23 consecutive Slam semis–goes to the movement. Even when his shotmaking was having an off-day, the movement was always there. Federer could smother even top 10 players with his footwork.
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